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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522985">Mindscapes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jateshi/pseuds/Jateshi'>Jateshi</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mindscapes AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Gen, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 08:47:08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>7,314</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24522985</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jateshi/pseuds/Jateshi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A what-if AU of Lucien and Lukel meeting long, long before they ended up meeting IC.  Soul-mate AU idea from a tumblr prompt-list!</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lucien Korbinius/Lukel Sol'ba, OC/OC</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Mindscapes AU [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1772179</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Lucien fell into deep sleep at the Castrum, the snows blowing across the expanses while he slept in the bunkers with the other engineers, there was something different about the shift, the fall of sleep, and the weave of dreams.  It was the first time he wasn’t engaged in work, or so exhausted that he’d dropped off like a log fallen on it’s side, and instead of finding himself fast asleep until the bells chimed and he woke again he was aware of the time.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution"> </p>
<p>A shard of light split the dream, while Lucien studied the almost formless world that he stood on, the weight of his feet enough that he knew where he was.  And in the shard of light, black form split with crimson and white, stood - someone.</p>
<p>Horned, whip-like tail, the spill of hair like a river of blood and the strands of white caught the light and the silver-eyed man’s attention.  He looked like a demon from stories, or the devils that were whispered by the Roegadyn that Garlemald worked with, that held the gates of the hells closed.</p>
<p>With one more step there was a shattering of the darkness and the world flashed like a spread of oil and fire, blues and cold whites racing as he walked to the figure that stood tall, proud, and with an air of confusion.  "There are no strings-“</p>
<p>And then the curled voice, rich and cold, stopped as the darkness was split by white and silver and blue, ice and winds and snows when Lucien stepped close, and amethyst and white eyes met across the expanse and there was stillness, a halt, an utter suspension of time.</p>
<p>Language did not exist in this space but instead there was no issue or barrier.  "Who are you?”  The sharp accent was not cutting - Lucien was curious, and nothing made sense.</p>
<p>When they were almost in a few fulms, eyes locked, the final step shattered the dream, the last thing Lucien recalled being the look of disbelief in the strange face.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What is the matter, jen Korbinius?”</p>
<p>The question snapped the young man’s attention back to his work, the focus of words grabbing and garnering a moment to pull himself back from the dark cavern that his mind had been drawn to again.  He could see it, like a glimpse just beyond the trees and the buildings that he was mired in, the bustle of the steams and and gears that the city of the Capital was made of.</p>
<p>“Pardon.”  His response was automatic, ignoring the shard of violet that was the same shade as the strange eyes he’d seen the evening before in a dream.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/ZK6P7m2NsVrxF">Originally posted by eternalwsnight</a>
</p>
<p>It had to be a dream, the unspoken surprise, the confusion, the way he could see the eyes widen still, as if they were still there, still watching him.</p>
<p>It was impossible that they were, utterly impossible, he had no name for what the man had been other than-</p>
<p>“Jen Korbinius,” the voice called out sharply, and this time the shard shattered and Lucien blinked to stare at the sharp-voiced oen who stood so close that they were less than a fulm apart.</p>
<p>“Pardon,” Lucien repeated, his focus entirely on oen Talorn who stood and watched as if he were studying a hawk that was just free from its hood, free and sitting on loose-gripped jesses.</p>
<p>“Dismissed,” came the command a full tick later, the brown and sharp attention watching Lucien as he departed the grounds and yard, cutting a path across the snows.</p>
<p>“What was the matter,” came a soft voice just behind his ear, a few ilms above his and the same started voice from the dream.  </p>
<p>Lucien stopped, the air hanging with a cold frost-rimmed cloud as he didn’t turn around again, but the voice had caught his attention.  When he spoke it was low, as if making sure that nothing monitoring them would not pick up his words.  "Because I keep seeing you.“</p>
<p>There was silence, so deep that Lucien began to walk again, winding down the streets of the city and between the bricks and metal buildings, the stretch of sculpture to the sky and catching the levin and ice that danced along the clouds the only thing that broke the silence.  The shard of amethyst that had stained the edges of his sight since the darkened cavern pulsed again and even as he closed his eyes, he could see it - and behind him, the crunch of a second set of footsteps on the snow and ice.</p>
<p>"I keep seeing you, too.”</p>
<p>It seemed that, to them both, the strangeness was enough to disturb their mutual attention.</p>
<p>Even as he continued to walk the cavern and the shimmering darkness and light was enough that he could still see the crimson again, the snow and smoke of his horns-</p>
<p>“…..why are you still here, then?”</p>
<p>The voice seemed surprised at the question but finally, finally, his shadow replied.  "You called.  I want to see why.“</p>
<p>The silence continued to stretch as Lucien walked again, imagining that the shadow was gone.  That lasted until he was at the small, cramped quarters that the young legionarius was stationed to.</p>
<p>"I like mysteries.  I will solve you.”</p>
<p>Somehow that was… not the most comforting thing to hear from the phantom.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/Zg6f_m2j8zmsz">Originally posted by warcraft-shenanigans</a>
</p>
<p>In the shadows there was the horned demon again, and he was watching Lucien as he worked, and eventually there was a mutual understanding that there in the shared space, they held silence.</p>
<p>It didn’t stop the study, nor did it stop the curiosity - Lucien had never seen something or someone like the tall and well-dressed horned demon, and the constant watch was starting to wear through his patience and crawl the demand and want of answers.  He was a mere breath away from stalking towards him before-</p>
<p>“You’re distracted again, jen Korbinius.” The voice was at his ear and there was a reaction and instinct of fear at the tone - something he’d never heard before, something he didn’t like, a feeling like a dagger down his spine or a pistol at his temple.  Something was an alarum at the tone, at the sudden and intense focus, and his stillness, distantly, was noted even by the other who was in that dark cavern just beyond his vision.</p>
<p>He didn’t know what gave it away until he looked down and he saw that the design he’d been working on had deviated.  Something - strange, the shift, that was not wrong but it was not the design he was copying from.  It was - changed, organic, reworked, and off the record that he’d been supposed to be working from, and the lux was at his back just at his shoulder, and watching him.  The short brush of military-cropped hair couldn’t hide the look of confusion in his eyes and the lux leaned over, sibilant voice to his ear, and spoke.  "Very distracted, jen Korbinius.  But I am intrigued - this is far beyond your usual wanderings of attention.“</p>
<p>The lux pulled back and Lucien felt the breath of air start to leave - he would be fine as long as the examination stopped.</p>
<p>"It was noted that you have begun to have issues, jen Korbinius,” the lux continued smoothly, rounding to face Lucien and for once blocking the vision of the horned demon though he was aware that somehow he knew the horned demon was walking closer as if hearing and listening to the interaction.  "In fact, oen Rasmullix brought a concern that your work might begin to suffer from it.  It seems he was right to let me know, though this is a fascinating issue to see.“</p>
<p>Lucien studied the lux, someone who he had worked with for more than a few turns, who had been one of the guiding mentors as he’d stepped from the Academy to the Legions.  "I am not sure what you mean, lux Hellor…?”</p>
<p>Kemer lux Hellor stood in front and watched when Lucien’s eyes tracked just slightly right before he smiled, a delayed smile of amused joy.  "It’s very rare that I can observe someone who is clearly hallucinating but entirely sane for it.  Strange, isn’t it?“  The lux watched the colour in Lucien’s cheeks, and then smiled wider.  "Congratulations, jen Korbinius.  I will be accepting your case.”</p>
<p>The pair of clean-cut and uniformed medicus assistants who stepped behind him were alarming.  Lucien side-stepped, just enough that he could try and get a bit out of reach as the trill of an alarum sounded in his mind.  He could see the amethyst and crimson and it was not just interested but there seemed to be something else in it that he couldn’t quite read.  "Case, sir?“  He was barely holding back the instinct to bolt.</p>
<p>"Don’t worry, jen Korbinius, we will make sure this issue is cured - once we understand it.”  A hand lifted, a gesture that Lucien didn’t quite read, at least not fast enough before there was a prick of a needle at his neck, the rush of cold as the plunger was depressed.</p>
<p>He turned too slow to break the needle out before it felt empty but he took off at a run or he tried to, sluggish but focus as he tried to make it for the just about only ally that he figured he had, even if the other was more than likely a figment of his imagination.  And then he could read the very real anger that lanced across the growing-familiar features, as the jen felt the impact of hitting the ground even if he didn’t remember falling or stopping.  He couldn’t make his legs work when he tried to stand, and when the medicus started to lift him it was hard to even tell that change, the frantic claw to stay awake the only thing that he was focusing on.</p>
<p>The lux’s face swam in front of his eyes and it was hard, focusing and parsing words, to understand what he said.  "You’re too useful to let slide into whatever this distraction is without moderation.  If it serves the Empire, it might be permitted.  In moderation.  Controlled.“</p>
<p>The panic wore off the drugs but the lux seemed to have anticipated that as the clearing of the glaze was met with the feeling of a cold push at the base of his neck.</p>
<p>Darkness crawled up to the edges of his vision and when he blinked it was hard to lift his eyes open again, fighting to reopen his eyes though when he did there was just amethyst and white staring at him and he couldn’t quite understand the words even though he felt them.  "You seem in danger.”</p>
<p>The lux stared at Lucien and then where Lukel should have been.  "Fascinating… we really do need to figure out your problem.“</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/Zq3QHa2YmImga">Originally posted by incandescent-abyss</a>
</p>
<p>It hadn’t been just darkness that Lukel found the odd cavern shrouded in while he studied it, feeling the odd bubble of anger that what he’d been studying was absent from his attentions.  There were snatches that he got that took the cavern and snapped it to the side as he could tell that the jen was trying to wake but it was not going successful as his minders kept seeing the signs of rousing and sliding him another dose of something in silver needle and working.</p>
<p>The feeling he could pick up was distorted and blurred when the jen managed to wake fully and there was an odd relief as the cavern seemed to stabilize though the hues and shades of its walls were wrong now and the man was slumped against the mental wall, a hand trying to find some slipping grip that he could use to haul himself to his feet with.  The crack of his shoes was muffled, his steps measured and the frown deepened when he realized that the snow-haired man did not move even in reaction as he knelt down beside him.</p>
<p>The hand that gripped the Garlean’s chin was not gentle, a clinical observation as he turned the man’s head instead and watched the rather delayed reactions and sluggish dilation of silver pupils.  The anger remained on Lukel’s face and the disgust wove into his voice when he spoke, still keeping a vice-like grip on the Garlean’s chin.  "You’re drugged.“  It was hard to tell what was getting the ire, exactly, but when Lucien tried to turn his head the pressure increased and Lukel continued to study the man.  "Why are you allowing this?”</p>
<p>Holding Lucien’s jaw still did what he wondered if the man was capable of, still - he saw some fight worm through the haze that gripped him, the sway stilling a little as his hand clawed and snagged a jut of rock on the wall and Lucien held on as if that was a lifeline.  "Allowing…?“  The rasp was out of place, not the smooth and sharpened accent that Lukel was used to hearing and the frown deepened.</p>
<p>"Allowing.”  Because whatever he studied was not supposed to be in distress until he decided he wanted to study that reaction - this was ahead of his time table and thus it was not allowed.  It was a fault and a failure of the Garlean that he was having to have this conversation at all.</p>
<p>The pause and delay grew as Lucien stumbled in words, closing his eyes and picking them out as he tested them.  "If you can change… this… you are welcome… to show me how.“  His chin was still held and there was a persisting clarity in his eyes that slowly seemed to eat away at the haze that he’d been lost in.</p>
<p>Lukel looked over his shoulder and amethyst eyes watched the shift behind Lucien - he could see that he was slumped against a wall, head bowed just enough that the observing medicus couldn’t see his lips move when he spoke.  The walls were cold, white and gleaming steel with recessed, embedded lights that were not flickering, cool and pale blue and left few shadows.  There was a window or mirror, it was hard to tell, but through it Lukel could see someone else observing even still.</p>
<p>The growl was short but deep in his throat as he watched the attendants seem to wait for something.  "What do they want.”  He watched Lucien struggle to focus but there was more bleed of the drugs the longer he kept the man’s mind working and so questions continued.  He was almost pleasantly surprised that Lucien was working through the sedatives and whatever else he’d been given and was stringing words together so coherently- but he was not wanting to remain working with an incapacitated subject of his own.</p>
<p>A laugh was not the immediate reaction he wanted from the Garlean but a laugh is what he got, his hand still keeping head angled back so he could watch the silvered eyes.  "They want… this.“  The hand on the wall moved, slowly, a grand swipe gesture that Lukel could tell was spotted from the tension and the stillness the attendants exhibited.  "Hallucination.  Why it started?”</p>
<p>Heels hit the floor but Lucien was not aware enough to react to them - but the curious face of lux Hellor was close enough that Lukel almost could feel his breath as he started almost where Lukel stood.  "Oh good, it started?  Fascinating… It seems to require a cognizant mind.  Unusual -  there’s no state change, but it did not occur when he was drugged, only conscious and coherent.  Which leads me to an interesting wonder… are you insanity or not?“</p>
<p>No feeling of alarm triggered for Lukel but when Lucien began to speak his grip tightened and he held the other man silent even as the observing man studied that, and looked intrigued.  He would forced Lucien to keep secrets when he was incapable of it for they were his secrets, and the curious and clinical interference was not wanted.  </p>
<p>"You’re not a figment.”  The words were sharp, and the lux stared right at Lukel though there was no focus - he couldn’t see Lukel, he had just guessed exactly where the man stood.  "You’re listening right now.“  No question to his tone and just merely commenting, observing, narrating.  "That will help.”</p>
<p>The lux’s smile was not soothing, something that seemed almost sadistic in the pleasure he held in his words.  "It will make destroying this much easier.  There will be more left of him at the end of the procedure, more the Empire can use in the remains.“  A gesture and the attendants moved in, pulling the jen to his feet while Lukel watched, marking every feature of the lux’s face to memory.  While the attendants angled Lucien to his feet he waited - beneath drooping eyelids his gaze was clear and the slam of fist into the temple of one of the medicus was abrupt, so startling that neither of them could stop the slam of his head against the wall, nor the way he slid down to a heap.  His grip was broken but it was almost pride as he saw the brutal fury as the Garlean aimed another slam of his fist against the lux himself, the pride too-quickly replaced with fury as something activated and Lucien dropped to his knees, jerking in pain as if electrocuted, hands bracing himself and preventing the Pureblood from falling completely to the ground.</p>
<p>There had been nothing that had hit him.  But Lukel could spot the thin piece of metal at the back of Lucien’s neck that was part of his skin and he began to plan.</p>
<p>"Breathe slowly, Lucien.” He had heard the name often enough that he called the Garlean by it to snap him back, watching as Lucien panted shallow breaths.  "You will need to remove that…thing.  But you will need to wait, or they will replace it.“  A beat like a heart before he spoke again.  "Do you understand?”</p>
<p>The pain laced Lucien’s words but he gave a shallow nod.  "Yes.“</p>
<p>A hand threaded in Lucien’s hair and it was not Lukel’s and the growl was almost loud enough to slice across the space between where they really were and be heard.  When the Pureblood’s head was wrenched up and studied Lukel was almost ready to rip the lux’s throat out for touching–</p>
<p>"Don’t worry, jen Korbinius.  We have dealt with this before.  You will be thankful when this is over and done with.  We ensure it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The break of contact and concentration lapsed into bells, ticks of bells as Lucien was not sure where he was, for a moment or two, and tried to stand - the distress when he realized he was bound to whatever he was on was quickly ended with a cooling flood that ended him down into darkness.  Always, always darkness - and sometimes there was the cavern in it, as if he were sunk back into dreams, but there was nothing there.</p>
<p>Nothing and no one, not even the shadow and shape of the man who’d been the only steady thing he’d seen.</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/Zl6Cqj2Qub6BH">Originally posted by maedhros-the-tall</a>
</p>
<p>Absence was disturbing and the first time he’d realized that there was nothing in that space that should have been filled with cutting remarks and silent study, Lucien had broken something when he’d reacted.  From the hang of his arm, through the haze and recall, it’d been his wrist when he’d wrenched off the restraints and had slammed his fist against the wall, trying to break the wall because on the other side there had to be someone.</p>
<p>The jerk and then slam as he’d hit the floor had broken him from that haze of reaction and when his swimming head had cleared Kemer’s face had been close, the lux leaning over him as the medicus started to drag him back to his feet.  "Why are you fighting, jen Korbinius?  Was it gone?“</p>
<p>Medicus were prepared for the reaction and Lucien himself had not been, the Pureblood easily brought back to his knees with a cry as one of the attendants pulled on the snapped arm until it hung wrong, odd at the bone and his fingers spasmed then fell open, twitching from pain he was trying to not process.  The pain burned the sedatives from his system though and behind Kemer his shadow pulled longer and fuller, and from the darkness bled a sliver of crimson.  There was no amethyst in the eyes when Lucien locked on them again, instead the sharp and cold white an odd echo of his own gaze, but instead of confusion that lived in his expression, there was a growing fury.</p>
<p>"You. Were. Gone.”</p>
<p>No hand reached past lux Hellor this time but instead Lukel stalked closer, the sound of his footsteps a sharp click that rung against the cold metal floor.</p>
<p>He felt the floor under his feet and turned from the ice-frozen fury to look at the lux then, eyes narrowed in clear concentration.  There was a breath, a moment, and before the medicus could react he shifted his weight and kicked, even as it put the bum arm into weight with the medicus and it felt like a grind of bone to bone in a way that he did not like.  But Hellor went down sharply from the kick, swearing loudly as he moved away from Lucien and there was a dim hope that when he fell he’d fall into Lukel as he stalked closer-</p>
<p>-but he passed through him like a mist.</p>
<p>Against the wall Kemer made a sharp gesture to the medicus and they pulled against and Lucien was on his knees, a ragged tear of a scream from his throat as he was held down and prevented from rising.  From the wall the lux took a moment to compose himself, striding through the distance and passing through the stalking ice-eyed demon again before he knelt down, making an effort to get Lucien’s attention and then hold his focus.  "It was gone, wasn’t it, jen Korbinius.  When you woke.  And you panicked because it was absent, when you had grown used to it.“</p>
<p>He was looking for something in the Garlean’s eyes and his thin line of a mouth pressed together when he seemed to find something.  "Usually when hallucinations are gone, people are happy for it.  A return to normalcy, yes?  So why are you disturbed that the hallucination is gone?  We would be done if you were happy.”</p>
<p>Behind Hellor Lukel paused as if he wanted to know the answer too, to entertain why it was that the once-controlled and restrained Garlean had gone furious and savage.  Silence stretched again before the medicus pinched and he yelled again, panting as the lux’s message was clear.  </p>
<p>Speak.</p>
<p>Lucien’s eyes narrowed and he swung and swam a little, giving his head a sharp shake before he lifted his chin.  "He’s mine.“  The simplest words to possibly exist for the distant rage that Lucien felt when he’d been gone, the same rage that was echoed by the demanding voice and tone of Lukel’s three words.  "You don’t… get to do that…” The drag of his speech was between pained gasps, holding his breath after his few short words as he realized what it sounded like.</p>
<p>Did he care?  Whatever Lukel was, it was still his, something that had no need to be interfered with, meddled with - his blink was slow, eyes almost closing for ticks too long before he slid his gaze past the lux and looked towards Lukel who had taken one more step closer, the slide of the cavern following behind him, meeting the cold metal and standing half a fulm over the lux’s head.</p>
<p>Lukel’s hand reached through the lux’s chest as if grasping his heart, pulling back as if it could rip flesh from him, pull the organ out from the cavern of his chest but alas, nothing was held in his palm.  "A pity.“  No heart in his hand, no heart curled in his fingers, plucked from the lux’s chest.</p>
<p>"Ah, Korbinius, I have some news for you.”  Lux Hellor closed what distance there was and watched Lucien again.  "I do.“  His smile could have frozen the breath in Lucien’s chest, were it not for the pain that kept him taking shallow gasps still.  "If you do not cooperate with my efforts you will find yourself remanded to my custody permanently until we have the issue fully corrected.  Surrender this figment and attachment to it-” Kemer’s smile was a mockery of peaceful invitation or comforting expression.  "Or the corrections will be more extreme.“</p>
<p>The medicus holding him shifted his arm and the pain lanced up fresh again, reminding him that the break was there and that he was on his knees like a prisoner.  "The combination didn’t last long - we’ll try again until it does.  For now though, it seems you need a slightly different treatment; we shouldn’t allow that break to remain for too much longer.  But you won’t be cooperative at the moment, will you?”</p>
<p>He fought to stay awake when the darkness clawed back again but it was a breath and then a second before his head nodded over and he felt himself slumping.  "We’ll try again.“</p>
<p>From behind Hellor, another voice spoke.  "Did you mean it?”  Lukel’s tone was hard to read, but the question was so close on the heels of Hellor’s statement that Lucien tried to get his tongue to work.</p>
<p>“Yes.” Hellor and Lukel could take it both as an answer, trying to open his eyes again but getting as far as a struggle with his brows before he was out again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The walls were white, pristine, empty.  Everything was empty, what little decorations there were placed in exacting location as it should be - the lighting was sterile, clinical, and blue-hued, the desk metallic, clean, neatly organized with a datapad atop it.</p>
<p>Everything where it was supposed to be.</p>
<p>Lucien lifted a hand to the wall, fingers catching on the surface as he looked around and blinked slowly, trying to identify what the issue was.  The haze of recall had been explained by the very polite medicus when he’d woken up - a head injury he’d been taken to treatment for.  And the jen was aware of -</p>
<p>…a fight?</p>
<p>
  
</p>
<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/ZhJHTg2Jc8T2M">Originally posted by marvelsironfist</a>
</p>
<p>He curled his hand into a fist, recalling the feeling of impact, flesh against bone, the pain that had lanced across his-</p>
<p>- It wasn’t clear enough to really recall, something that bit out as strange at the jen as he looked at the room and tried to recall what else he was looking for.</p>
<p>“Is something the matter, jen Korbinius?”  The lux’s voice was smooth and had been a constant when he woke, the concern as he checked on the jen’s progress a marked relief from the usual legionarius medicus.  The attendants were also helpful and by the time Lucien processed what they were asking he shook his head.</p>
<p>“Nothing’s the matter at all,” came out, fingers curling as he looked at the clinical and detached room and wondered why something else was being studied, being - hunted?  It felt like the swoop of cold air before a hawk descended, the stillness before a storm unleashed itself, but he couldn’t find where it was supposed to come from other than to study the windows and the doors and then look back at the medicus.</p>
<p>Waiting.</p>
<p>“It looks like you’re finally stable,” lux Hellor declared, the time having crawled past them both until air caught in Lucien’s throat.  "It’s been a good few suns jen Korbinius, but I think it is safe to return you to your legion and your work.  No more incidents though, yes?“  The lux’s words were accompanied by a smile, like a gash or a cut across their skin suddenly peeled back to bare the bones of their teeth.</p>
<p>He was missing something, Lucien saw that in the glint in the lux’s eyes, something was gone from the jen.  Something… important that he scrambled to try and reclaim and hold.  "No more incidents,” he agreed.</p>
<p>When the medicus discharged him there was a regiment of medications - necessary to continue to make sure that the illness that had brought him low didn’t resurface now that it was handled.  His fingers curled over the doses, tapping the vials one by one as he looked at the third dose, blinking as the light refracted against its glistening contents, the spill of brilliant purple so achingly familiar-</p>
<p>-except he couldn’t tell why it caught his attention, or why he stopped when it broke against the window and the wall and he stood to look at the glittering fragments of crystalline amethyst that spilled until the sun turned and his focus broke.  It was… almost a memory, of something in that hue, but nothing came as he dug for the recollection.</p>
<p>A head injury could cost memories though, he knew that.</p>
<p>So, he’d lost something.  Something important, as his fingers curled on the vial and he stilled, realizing that the medicus who had been helping him for the suns he’d been unwell were nearby like guards, like trained dogs waiting for the attack and his wariness was alarming him to the study.  They were watching him for a - slip?</p>
<p>He closed the medicine doses back away safely, tucking the bag at his feet as he continued on the transit.  The medicus were marked, mentally, but he let his eyes half-close as he leaned back.  Sleeping was supposed to be done with the silver vial but this was not sleep, so the jen simply let his eyes close, falling into the darkness of dreams- and the cavern that haunted them, the shards of amethyst light as the walls tried to form but they cracked, faded, broken apart even as a figure strode across the distance as if aiming to make it there before the last fragment of stone fell.</p>
<p>The rage-filled sound was something that he heard as he jerked awake, the sluggish confusion that the sound had been in his half-formed dreams but something else repeated it, malms and yalms away, but he felt it in the depths of his soul, the sound in his blood and in his bones and starting him awake with unclouded silver eyes.</p>
<p>He needed to slip the medicus.  He let his eyes false close, looking over the transit’s seats as he ‘slept’ again, marking where they were.</p>
<p>He could ignore the mandate for the medicines, if they were not there to watch him.  Something was sounding alarums and the recollection of the cavern, of the deep gems that he wanted to find- he knew he wouldn’t do it under their thumb.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Darkness stalked across the borders of Garlemald’s territories like shadow - edged with biting teeth that grabbed bodies and eviscerated them, leaving ripped arms and a head to roll into the shadows.  The shadows hunted with precise rage, malevolence woven into every gesture as the Butcher strode deeper into the lands.  There was something he wanted that was gone and it had been hist fascination - it was unacceptable that it was absent now, and he would find it.</p>
<p>He had a name, from the last contact that the other had been coherent for - the time had been longer than he guessed the man had been aware, Lukel bending over to look at the eyes that light faded from as he withdrew his clawed hand - the gaping hole in chest was where he’d ripped the ribs apart, the heart almost a focal point for the strings that he studied as they stilled and faded.  The scream had been familiar - something in the face was known.  </p>
<p>He had not been to Garlemald.</p>
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<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/ZX8Swn2HNAtzb">Originally posted by dancing-at-the-funeralparty</a>
</p>
<p>Was it not his familiarity then?  The strings and numbers were studied and pale eyes were distant, ignoring the sounds of alarm that were vaguely noted - but they were not a worry for the Butcher.  What could they do to him that he had not tried for time beyond their mortal counting to accomplish…?  Nothing.</p>
<p>Where had he known this one?  The strings were certain that his path had not crossed but there was still knowledge and it was impossible that could happen - he knew the face that gasped below him on the frozen stones, knew the voice that choked on air.  It was someone -</p>
<p>He knelt down, setting the heart beside the now stilled body as he looked at the face.  It was something that what he hunted had known, and that knowledge was tucked in recall as if it’d been his own.  Impossible, and yet there it was - a name that the strings told him was true, but with familiarity that the hunter would never have had.</p>
<p>A bloodied claw straightened strands of brown hair and drew a line from the revealed third eye down as if marking or blessing the corpse in its repose.</p>
<p>“Where will I find him,” he asked the still air, the only breath his own when he decided to take it.</p>
<p>Silence held an answer it seemed, hand closing around the bloodied muscle as he righted himself and walked, the shadows holding him against the search and patrols as he moved.  The corridors were twisted against his senses but the silent answer had been knowledge, pulled from the other and deeper than that, a well of how to thread the needle of alert that the strung up presents of his rage had created in the fortification.  Castrum, something whispered, the same whisper as he turned and paused at the door that barred his progress.  Fingers curled to sharp claws but before he tried to breach the door with only force he listened and tried what intuition whispered to him, the press of finger to keypad light but even still it dripped sticking crimson.</p>
<p>The pulsing red light stopped, steadying as the doors opened and allowed the Butcher to stride deeper in the metal building, the throw of ceruleum’s hue on his suit shading his pale skin like a wraith.  Down the halls he stalked, past the stream of uniformed soldiers who ran down to discover his latest display of sinew and bone that had been his expression of displeasure at the soul he’d found.</p>
<p>It wasn’t even the lux’s but it had been twisted, blackened and the mockery of form he wrought of it was a gift to make the passing a reminder, a warning for the next that would rise in that man’s feet.  Something would - oh, it always did, did it not?  He knew that as he waited, the doors he watched peeling open and his shadows slipping further inside and winding to the small workshop that he wanted to find.  There was someone outside it though, someone that he was certain shouldn’t be - he recalled the aides, the one on the door the one who had gleefully broken and held his quarry’s arm when it’d hung limp, wresting him to submission from the pain and angle.</p>
<p>The Butcher studied and planned this one carefully.  It would need to be a warning, and a reminder.  Something to tell the lux what his own fate would begin to taste like, when he bit on his last breath and choked on his blood after screaming until he had no voice.  Yes, this would be the beginning of that masterpiece.</p>
<p>What was left on the wall, the Butcher striding through the doors with blood-slicked hands sliding the key card to grant him passage, was a gruesome calling card to be found.  The snapped string of the lout still echoed a painful, agonized cry that almost made up for the rage that stirred in his chest when he placed the face.  As a reminder he’d broken and then ripped his arm out, the way he’d done to his target and quarry, so that the message and intentions would be clear - he would wring payment from them all before they were allow the rest and escape of death.</p>
<p>When he arrived at the door and it slid open finally there was a shiver in the air and the drawn out cavern, crystals etched in shadow, seemed to grow like a rise of twisted, broken vines.  There were others in the room but they were not the focus or concern as he watched the pale-haired man stand still, colorless eyes meeting his own but without recognition, just distilled and uncertain curiosity.  </p>
<p>He could feel the strings and the pull but there was something frayed, worn…</p>
<p>“I came.”</p>
<p>The jen’s frown was confused but even as the blood pooled behind the Butcher he was not afraid.  Something strained as the air rippled, shadows growing jagged lines like crystal and a mist and spark of purple wove into his sight.  "…you did.“  It was relief that the horned demon stood there, relief and…</p>
<p>Lukel’s hand was extended, claws darkened with swirls of painted tattoos in the same deep purple that grew like a fracture in the shadows, rich and almost calming.  "Take my hand.”  No assurance of safety, his tone not biting and not a growl but nothing soft or sweet in it.  No pressure or feeling of the bells, either, instead just an offer and a temptation in the gesture, his tail still as he stood and waited.  Would whatever was done be enough to make this man refuse, or would there be time to speak without drugs and darkness stopping his curiosity?</p>
<p>When the jen grabbed his hand at a sound behind him it was with shock in his expression but the contact was enough to rip apart the shadows as he stole them both away.  When he let the movement across aether and the crystal end the man wobbled and fell to his knees and Lukel watched the agonizingly slow breaths he took.  But they were not followed, not yet, and whatever reason that this man had grabbed his attention for, it was now undivided as he waited for the Garlean to compose himself.</p>
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<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Composure meant so many things - it could mean standing tall and unflinching as the battle lines drew close, the screams and rends of agony filling the are as men were cut down in slaughter.  It could mean steady arms and a strong back when your sister collapsed, sobbing, unable to stay on her feet herself and you needed to keep her upright.  It could mean the dead star of someone who knows their place to the last ilm of permissions, and it could mean holding your breath when you almost fell off the precipice of that end, that line - that final fall.</p>
<p>For the moment composure meant that while Lucien noted the blood on the palm he’d taken, the horns drawn up and casting strange shadows that fractured with crystal at the edges, the curl of tail that was so low as to be easily forgotten and the claws as sharp as knives, he didn’t flinch.  He took a breath, held it, and then waited for the feeling of air burning in his lungs to clear out as he took a second breath.  The shock of the feeling in that short contact, the spark when he’d held that hand…. couple with the dizziness of teleportation itself was enough that Lucien should have and knew he should have been reeling back - but something held off the worry so it didn’t grip him quite yet.</p>
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<p class="tmblr-attribution">
  <a href="https://tmblr.co/ZTvSId2XiJmsJ">Originally posted by euphonero</a>
</p>
<p>Maybe it was the awareness that running from a hunter drove their heart to their ears and made the sweet call of blood impossible to ignore.  Maybe it was the feeling, unexplainable but as steadfast as a castrum’s walls, that nothing would go wrong for too lonmg, now that they were - together?</p>
<p>That almost tasted right - like a wine just against his lips or a deep and soothing forest scent to his nose, it seemed right.  And in the time that it took for this to crawl through his thoughts, the beast had not moved from watching him, letting him come to a conclusion - whatever that was - one his own.</p>
<p>He came.</p>
<p>The fragmented and shattered crystalline shadows knit themselves together slowly and there was familiarity and almost relief as a racing heart steadied with a snap he felt behind his head; the relief that rose across Lucien’s face as the cavern’s walls climbed through the shadows was echoed as he could see it in the bleed of purple back into the other man’s face.  "Ah, and there it is,“ came the curl of voice, the almost expectant eyes as white-to-amethyst studied the Garlean.</p>
<p>Rage kindled slowly but the embers of it fired to life as easily as if someone had poured fuel across that spark, and when Lucien drew a breath the confusion shifted out from his eyes, replaced instead with a steady and low fury.  Words died in his throat before Lucien looked at the drip of blood, the crimson on his palm, and the Garlean ran a hand through his hair, the pale almost-white strands streaking with blood from the gesture.  "What is this, then?”  His hand gestured to the walls, the stretch of dark stone that dripped water.  It overlay something else - the woods, snowfall and pine boughs, that they stood in.  </p>
<p>Before he answered the distance was closed and clawtips lightly touched the side of his jaw as his chin was angled up, the two staring as the silence grew.  A breath and then another was taken and let go before Lukel released the hold on his chin.  "I don’t know.  I can suspect, but I have never seen this before.“</p>
<p>With his chin released Lucien finally took a step back, fingers curling and then uncurling to hang limply.  Vaguely he wanted to scream at someone but although Lukel was here, he wasn’t who Lucien wanted to rage at.  "What do you suspect, then, that you carved- Emperor, you carved a path in, you were what was slaughtering through installation after installation-” Now there was horror the magnitude of what Lukel had done hitting Lucien.  "Why would you do that?  Why!“</p>
<p>"You’re mine.”  In the silence after his words, Lucien stared at him and time slowed until it was a frozen trickle, just barely enough for existing.  "Whatever the doctor-“ the word was spat like a curse, a mockery of the title, ”-did, I could feel you breaking against it.“  Possessive, the snarl and growl of his words, and almost tender in the threat and menace.  </p>
<p>"Lux Hellor.”  Lucien’s supply of the name was met with a growl from the man and monster, the Garlean watching the Xaela with detached analysis.  Like a stream slowly wearing its banks, he recalled the conversations, shards of memories that hung in absolute darkness.  "An injury they said.“</p>
<p>"For the wrist they broke?”  Sweet velvet tones as Lukel watched the play of emotion across the Pureblood’s face, the tick in his jaw of rage again, the twist of fury that darkened his eyes and drove all blood until he looked as defined as a marble statue.  </p>
<p>“For the medicines they gave me, for a head injury.”</p>
<p>“Ah!  They lied.  The only thing those drugs did was take you from me.”  Sharp eyes bled some colour back as Lukel watched the blotch of red that rose, almost feverish.  "When they worked, I decided to take matters into my own hands.“</p>
<p>He could hear his breath catch in his chest, tight and tense as he closed his eyes, inhaling and head falling back.  "What if I wanted it gone.”  He should have - even if uttering those words dragged a claw of coal-heated fire across his soul.  </p>
<p>“You didn’t, did you?”</p>
<p>Silence.</p>
<p>“No,” Lucien finally said.  "You’re mine.  Hallucination or reality - you’re mine.“</p>
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